Like Father, Like Son

Date Screened: 24th March 2014

Synopsis

Ryota, a successful businessman who believes nothing can stop him in his pursuit of a perfect life, learns that his biological son was switched with another child at birth. The natural son is being brought up by a cheerful, underachieving, loafer and Ryota and his wife have to make the life changing decision whether to reunite with the biological son or keep the child they raised as their own. A humorous and moving film that won the Jury Prize winner at the Cannes Film Festival and is soon to be re-made by Hollywood.

Reaction Index Score: 84%

Official Trailer

Reviews

Hirokazu Kore-eda is a film-maker from Japan about whom I have been enthusing and evangelising for 15 years. So it is disconcerting to realise that, even on a second viewing, I can’t share the euphoric critical responses that have widely greeted his latest work. Like Father Like Son is a film of emotional poignancy, acted and directed with integrity, intelligence, lucidity and observational calm …Click here for the full review

That philosophy runs all the way to Like Father, Like Son’s overflowing heart: the film shows that just as men father sons, so sons can turn their fathers into men. Kore-eda has crafted a piercing, tender poem about the bittersweet ebb and flow of paternal love, and his status as Ozu’s heir becomes ever more assured … Click here for the full review

Mark Kermode

Outspoken, opinionated and never lost for words, Mark Kermode is the UK’s leading film critic.Feted as one of the finest film reviewers of his generation as well as for his impeccably-coiffured quiff, Mark Kermode presents the film review on Radio 5 live with Simon Mayo in a broadcast partnership that has lasted nearly 20 years.Click here for more reviews and information

… While this ‘baby swap’ drama gently raises issues of nature-versus-nurture, Hirokazu Koreeda’s Cannes-winner is primarily a portrait of fatherhood, filtered through Masaharu Fukuyama’s aloof architect, loathe to hand his groomed offspring to an ‘inferior’ family … Click here for the full review and rating

Although a bit over-neat in its contrasts between the respective families, Like Father, Like Son remains an affecting film, thanks to Fukuyama’s understated turn and Koreeda’s typically graceful visual storytelling … Click here for the full review and rating